Recommendations for ground cover

[bobobb.livejournal.com]

I have a typical somerville yard (about 10 feet x 10 feet) surrounded by some pretty large trees.  We have tried the past three years to plant grass to no avail -- we've turned the soil, added fertilizer, watered like crazy and used different grass seeds.  This seems like an extremely wasteful use of resources to me, especially for such a small space.  I notice that a lot of people in the Davis Square area have great little patches of green in their yards or plant other interesting plants -- and I was looking for some suggestions on either how to get a low-impact grass going or some other plant recommendations for ground cover. 

Please don't recommend asphalt -- my neighbors have that and it is really depressing.

 

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_meej_/]

Note that there are, also, two types of low (creeping) type phloxes - Phlox subulata and Phlox stolonifera. Subulata, which often gets sold as "Moss Pink," is the one that likes full sun, or at least fairly light shade; stolonifera, aka "Woodland Phlox," prefers partial to full shade and does decently there. Both of them get sold as "Creeping Phlox," so it's worth checking the species name and the sun/shade tags.